1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for testing any required properties of pharmaceutical solids such as tablets, pills, granules, and capsules etc. automatically and continuously.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, a standard relating to manufacture and quality control of pharmaceutical goods, called GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) has been enacted in many countries. GMP specifies, because of the importance of pharmaceutical goods which can decide one's life, that it is required to make quality control such as chemical analysis, to maintain optimum equipments and environments for manufacturing pharmaceutical goods, and to take care of all manufacturing practices including manufacture, packaging, display, and storage of pharmaceutical products and materials.
To make GMP effective, there are many detailed provisions in the Japanese pharmacopoeia with regards to weight deviation and disintegration, etc. Further, it is usual to test the hardness and abrasion of tablets and to measure thickness and diameter, etc. of the tablets so as to prevent administered amount of medicine from becoming inaccurate by reasons of destruction and abrasion during manufacture, conveyance and medication. These tests can be divided into two groups. One of which is a nondestructive test which gives no change to pharmaceutical solid such as tablet, and the other is a destructive test which provides gives certain changes such as division, crushing, dissolution or abrasion to pharmaceutical solid. Usually, nondestructive test includes measurements of weight, diameter and thickness, while destructive test includes measurements of hardness and disintegration.
In one of the prior practices, above tests have been made by allotting more than one person to each test and proceeding each test separately. In another prior practice, only one person is carrying out several different tests one by one.
Therefore, most of above prior arts require plural persons and long testing time, and are therefore expensive. Further, since the prior tests depend considerably on personal experience and dexterity, the results of tests may include personal deviations to such extent that precise test data cannot be expected.